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Covenantal Living

Now, what is covenantal living? Well, that takes us directly to ‘what is a covenant’? A covenant is a legal contract between two parties. While it is certainly possible to make a covenant between two men, here I am focusing on the believer’s covenant between himself and God.

Following the structure of the Covenant provided in Sutton’s That You May Prosper, there are five parts:

Transcendence (Who is in Charge?)

Hierarchy (Who do I report to?)

Ethics (What are my orders?)

Sanctions (What do I get if I obey/disobey?)

Continuity (What is future of this convenient?)

In the article presented, we see serious Orthodox Jews governing every detail of their lives, including what they buy and what they eat, in accordance to the covenant of their forefathers. Now, as Christians we understand that the food and ritual restrictions they follow have been fulfilled in Christ, who no longer regards these boundaries. But even so, these Orthodox Jews remain an example of how rigorously we should strive to live holy lives, lives lived according to the Covenant.

Today, even though we are no longer bound to the land laws or the ritual purity laws, we are still tied to the Biblical ethical laws that shape a Christian society, and make it distinct from, say, the arbitrary tyranny of today’s secular governments.

How then should we live a righteous life, a sanctified life pleasing to God? This is gained by obedience to the scriptures: as Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” And of course, as He did not come to abolish but fulfill the law, He means the Commandments of the Old Testament (which remain in force unless explicitly abolished in the New Testament).

In regard to Covenant, I favour Ray R. Sutton’s book; Economic Covenants (and other works of the Christian Reconstruction school) are strongly represented in Gary North’s Freebooks site.

Covenantal living is first applied to the individual, willing believer: then expands to encompass the family and the church. As people see the rewards of covenantal living, more join, and eventually you have a society that desires to pursue the godly life. For guidelines on how to apply the covenant to society – rather than grow impoverish and worthless under the guidance of politicians – then of course you will need to study Rushdoony’s work, the Institutes of Biblical Law, which you can find in Chalcedon.